A British woman was awarded $46,000 after she complained her boss coughed in her face during COVID.
Kevin Davies was ordered to pay the hefty penalty to the worker after an employment tribunal heard that he set out to “ridicule and intimidate” the woman over her health concerns.
The incident took place on March 17, 2020, BBC News reported, at Cawdor Cars in Wales. Davies, the father of British Lions and Wales rugby star Gareth Daviesone, is director chairman of six dealerships — according to his LinkedIn — including the one in Newcastle Emlyn, Ceredigion, where the woman worked.
Davies mocked the employee, who had asked her co-workers to social-distance from her — as recommended by officials at the time — because she suffered from psoriatic arthritis and another autoimmune condition, the tribunal heard.
Employment judge Tobias Vincent Ryan ruled that Davies “coughed in her direction deliberately and loudly, commenting that she was being ridiculous.”
Davies’ actions were witnessed by other members of the management team, but when asked to give evidence, they were reportedly defensive and “not being wholly straightforward” about their boss.
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The hearing was told the woman had worked for Cawdor Cars between 2017 and 2020 for $20 an hour.
She told the tribunal she had complained “vehemently” about the coughing incident, but eventually quit three months later.
“She resigned at least in part because she was victimized; this was a major and significant factor in her decision,” the judge said. “She felt that she was being eased out, partly because of her complaints. She was correct.”
The judge’s order that the woman be paid $46,300, included $6,800 for unfair dismissal and $8,185 for interest accrued.
“He knew of my medical condition. He knew I had no immune protection because of the medication I had to take, and he deliberately coughed in my face,” the woman said after the hearing, according to the BBC.
“I was shaking,” she continued, adding that the “horrendous” treatment she endured from Davies left her a “nervous wreck.”
“I’m not a silly, fluffy person; I’ve had to put up with a lot in my life, but it really got me.”